This disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for geographical location (geo-location) enablement for a wireless device. For example, this disclosure describes exemplary embodiments for providing a mobile device that is not capable of otherwise determining its geo-location with the ability to do so through the use of a geo-location enablement server. This disclosure also describes exemplary embodiments for populating the geo-location enablement server leveraging, for example, a plurality of mobile devices that are cable of determining their own geo-location. Various exemplary embodiments of the geo-location enablement server are also described. While the invention is particularly directed to the art of geo-location enablement for mobile devices, and will be thus described with specific reference thereto, it will be appreciated that the invention may have usefulness in other fields and applications. For example, the invention may be used in various types of devices, including wireless user devices, autonomous wireless devices, and other devices with a wireless interface.
By way of background, current solutions to provide mobile location information to applications either require the mobile device (e.g., cellular phone) itself include a global positioning system (GPS) receiver and support for determining its location or require that the application provider request this information from applicable mobile operators for their subscribers that want to use their application. Not only do most emerging application providers not have the required relationships, but the expense associated with getting this information from incumbent operators may be prohibitive.
Since the telecommunications equipment required to provide the operator with highly accurate location information of their mobile subscribers resides on a radio access network overlay, it is quite expensive and operators may charge dearly for this information. For many location-based application providers, that fee may even prohibit the application from being offered.
Based on the foregoing, a solution that enables a simple, cost effective geo-location lookup for applications for wireless devices is desirable. Additionally, a solution that enables highly accurate geo-location lookup, such as GPS lookup, is desirable. These solutions would exploit geo-location enabled wireless devices to enable geo-location lookup for non-geo-location enabled wireless devices.